Jonathan Rhys Meyers Breaks Silence on Plane Incident

Jonathan Rhys Meyersis clearing the air about the plane incident that saw himbriefly detained by LAX airport police.

Meyers, 40, and hiswife Mara Lanewere flying into Los Angeles from Miami earlier this month with their 1-year-old son Wolf when he got into a verbal dispute with Lane, PEOPLE confirmed with airport police. The actor recently opened up about the incident to Larry King on his showLarry King Now,where he told the whole version of the story and admitted fault for ordering a drink on board. Meyers said he was now sober again after seeking help.

“My wife and I had been traveling since 3 o’clock in the morning from Peru back to Los Angeles,” Meyers began. “And they gave away our tickets — it was just a problem with the airline. We had our baby, who was teething at the time, and it was all kind of frustrating. So we eventually got on the flight and my wife went to sleep and I very stupidly decided to order a drink. When my wife found that I’d ordered a drink, she got very, very angry with me because I shouldn’t drink. It doesn’t suit me and I had been sober for a long time.”

He continued, “And so I felt that mistake and I got upset and I took out an e-cigarette. And the airline staff told me that I wasn’t allowed to smoke an e-cigarette so I put it away. And then I spoke to the Los Angeles police once we got there, who were incredibly kind. Incredibly understanding. I apologized for my behavior, and that’s the entire story.”

The actor said that he was also trying to quit smoking as to not set a bad example for his son.

Rhys Meyers took the opportunity to maintain that he had learned his lesson from the incident and apologized to those involved.

“It is a good opportunity to apologize to anybody who was offended that that incident happened, but I learned my lesson,” he said. “As soon as I got off the airplane I went and spoke to somebody and I got back on track immediately.”

The actor’s wife posted on her Instagram the day after reports surfaced to explain that Meyers is working on his anger issues and that the incident on the flight wasn’t serious.

“8 months of sobriety and an unfortunate day of airline travel,” Lane wrote at the time. “We were in South America specifically working holistically through anger issues that result in these kinds of episodes. When in it… he is not in a frame of mind where he can really even comprehend the repercussions and necessary response to his own actions. J IS extremely sorry for any inconveniences caused to anyone traveling yesterday.”